


An Appreciation For The Scientist

by black_rose4



Series: Find Your Own Path [3]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Drabble Collection, Exploration, F/F, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Past Relationship(s), Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 21:23:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11998239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/black_rose4/pseuds/black_rose4
Summary: A collection of one-shots written for Suvi Anwar Appreciation Week over on tumblr, feat. Ryder x Suvi





	1. A Helping Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ryder helps Suvi with her roots

“It’s so much easier having somebody else do this for me.”

Rachel smiles, trying not to lose focus and poke Suvi - like she already has done. Twice. She slides the end of her comb through a section of Suvi’s hair then folds the layer back so that she can apply hair dye to her roots. She folds the section straight again and coats the other side, then begins sectioning her next part of hair.

“Well I couldn’t exactly say no. God knows it’s awkward doing it yourself. _Especially_ the back coz you can’t see a damned thing of what you’re doing.”

Suvi groans. “Urgh, the back is so tricky. I have an elaborate setup of mirrors so I can see if you’ve missed anywhere. And I always do, no matter how good a job I think I’ve done.”

Rachel nods sympathetically. She knows the feeling well, her ginger roots almost given away before by such a mishap. It’s what had prompted this dye session in the first place. A way to make both their lives a little easier and to help conceal their natural hair colours for a little longer. And maybe be an excuse to spend some time together too.

“I usually just smother the back of my head with hair dye and hope for the best. It’s short enough that there’s no point faffing about with trying to do the roots bit by bit coz the back _is_ the roots.”

Suvi shakes her head and Rachel tuts, scolds her and tells her to stay still. “See some of us can’t do that. Some of us have wild nests that won’t control themselves so you just have to let it do its own thing and hope for the best.”

“I don’t know, your hair seems to be behaving fine to me.”

“That’s because you’re threatening it with a comb and lathering gunk on it. Normally I can’t even brush it because if I do then frizz happens. So I just have to hope the bits that stick out decide they want to settle down and start a family and let me have a good hair day for a change.”

Rachel chuckles. “Well I think your cowlicks are endearing. And, dare I say, cute.”  

“You take that back, Rachel Ryder, or I’ll tell the crew about your giant ginger bush.”

Suvi grins up at Rachel and Rachel plays along, feigning horror and clutching a hand to her heart. “You fiend! Leave my burning bush out of this. It’s done nothing wrong to you…except perhaps give you a fright the first time you saw it. But now you know about it so it’s fine.”

Suvi chuckles and Rachel has to put work on hold for a second while she shakes with laughter. “I still can’t - I still can’t believe you’re ginger. I just…can’t imagine it.”

Rachel snorts. “I still can’t believe you’re not.”

“Yes well, it’s our little secret, eh?”

Suvi holds out her pinky for Rachel and she takes it, curling her own around Suvi’s and shaking it. Promise made, she lets go and picks up her pot of dye and brush. “It will be once I’m done with this bird’s nest. Come on, let’s finish this.”


	2. Worth It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Suvi and Ryder attempt to warm up after a day looking at glowing rocks and glowing skies

“So, was it worth the cold?”

Suvi pulls the blankets closer around her, trying to trap as much heat in as possible. Her limbs have finally come back to life, but her further extremities are still simultaneously frozen and burning from the severe change in temperature. She’d known Voeld was cold, but she’d never quite realised just how that felt until she’d braved it herself. Suddenly she feels bad for all those times she’d said _I’m sure it’s not that bad_ when Rachel had returned from Voeld, still frozen solid and her skin burning in the ship’s pleasant climate.

“Well, the data I collected still needs to be analysed, so I can’t say for certain yet if it was worth it or not.” A brief pause then she adds, “But the view was amazing. Well worth losing feeling in my face for.”

Rachel nudges her with shoulder. “Wanna test if its got feeling back yet?”

“What I want,” says Suvi, “is a nice hot cuppa tea. So get out of ‘ere and stick the kettle on.” Rachel uncrosses her legs and makes to get up, placing a quick kiss on Suvi’s cheek as she stands. “And if you dare steal the blankets, I’m gonna put me cold feet on you.”

Rachel laughs and lets go of the corner of the blanket, her plan foiled. “You can’t hog ‘em all you know. Tell you what, how bout I see if there’s a hot water bottle floating around here somewhere? Rather than you using me as one.”

Suvi catches Rachel’s wrist and drags her back to her. Rachel stoops to give her a proper kiss and Suvi smiles against her lips. “I love you, you know that right?”

“Love you too.”


	3. The Lies We Tell Ourselves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Suvi opens up to Ryder about a past relationship

“I didn’t listen to my gut like you did.”

Rachel pauses, flannel covering her face, and mouths _what?_ to herself. She dunks the flannel back in the water and washes off the last of her face-wash, then grabs a towel from the rail and pats her face dry. She rounds the corner and shoots Suvi a baffled look. “When did I do what now?”

Suvi draws her feet up, wraps her arms around her legs. “With that ex you told me about. The one who turned out to be sleeping around.”

Rachel makes a small _ohhh_ noise as she remembers their conversation the other day. Their talk on past relationships - or rather Rachel’s talk, Suvi has stayed quiet for most of it, listening but rarely participating. This particular ex had begun acting funny and sensing that something wrong between them, despite his claims otherwise when asked, Rachel had ended things between them. A week later she’d found out that he’d been seeing someone else while they were still together and that he was already with _another_ someone else and posting loved up pictures of the two of them on social media. She’d scoffed and said _good riddance_ to him as she deleted his number from her contact list.

Rachel sets her towel back on the rail in the bathroom, switches the light off and joins Suvi in bed. She sits with her legs tucked up beneath herself, like Suvi. “What’s this about?”

“I wanna tell you something. About why I’ve maybe been a bit guarded with you. With us.” Rachel nods _okay_. Suvi takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.

“Okay so, erm, my last ‘proper’ relationship ended pretty shittily. We’d been dating for a good few months and I loved her so much. But then one day I was with her mates and they were asking if I was alright, ya know, coz we’d apparently broken up. And I was like erm _we’re fine thanks_. But they kept at it like _oh I thought she was with her mate now_. But I told them no and they dropped it.

“I should’ve asked her about it then, but I didn’t want to believe them. So I kept me mouth shut and she was fine with me. Everything was fine. We saw each other plenty, still did the things we usually did. It was all normal. She even seemed happy to see me after work.

“We kept that up for about three more weeks, nearly four. Then she finally found the guts to break it off with me. She showed up at my place with a box of me stuff and asked for her things back. I told her to fuck her’sen, threw her shite in the bin and burned it. Almost set me place on fire doing it.”

Suvi chuckles anxiously and Rachel offers a sympathetic smile.

“In retrospect I can see everything that was wrong in those few weeks. Like, she was funny about me kissing her. And then we’d overcompensate for it with sex. Like, we were at it all the fuckin’ time. Coz, ya see, if we were fuckin’ then we weren’t talking.”

Looking back on it now it had been unfulfilling - definitely on her part and no doubt on her ex’s too. But it was easy to avoid talking with your mouth mashed against someone else’s genitals. Or nipples. Anything but kissing really, another thing which should’ve told her something was wrong, but at the time she’d chosen to ignore it.

She takes another deep breath and lets it out slowly, fingers raking through her hair and pushing it away from her face. “I just - I really appreciate how honest and transparent you are with me. No bullshit, none of that shite. Just how you feel, plain and simple.

“And I’ll be honest, I’m still anxious as heck about us. But I trust you and I don’t want to end things with you because of someone shitty in my past. Because I really do like what we’ve got going and I really do like you.”

Suvi shrugs, unsure of what else to say. “So yeah, that’s about it. Bag unpacked.”

Rachel leans across and places a quick but tender kiss on Suvi’s cheek. She smiles warmly at her. “Thank you for sharing this with me. And you know I’m always here to listen to anything else, no matter how big or small.”

Suvi returns her smile. “Thank you.”

 

 


	4. Field Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Suvi finally gets to explore a vault

“I can’t believe I’m really in a vault.”

Rachel smiles to herself as she watches Suvi, sees the look of wonder on her face. She darts from place to place, unsure of where to start: the giant tree in the centre of the room or the vines that crawl up the walls which pulse with lines of blue light or the giant glowing ferns. Suvi scurries about, scanning everything and anything, her eyes lighting up like her scanner as it gathers new information.

“I promised I’d bring you, didn’t I?”

Suvi mumbles a vague reply, but she’s not listening, too busy scanning some new type of plant. Rachel decides to leave her to it, staying near enough by to her to keep watch, but giving Suvi plenty of room to enjoy herself. She finds a stump and seats herself on it, preparing herself for the long day ahead.

Sitting here again now, without the impending threat of Remnant, Rachel finds herself reliving the excitement she’d first felt when she’d come down here - albeit with fewer things shooting at her this time around.

Once Suvi says she’s done with the area they move on to the next, jumping from pillar to pillar to reach new sections of the vault and venturing into side rooms which were previously sealed shut. Suvi returns to her scanning and Rachel begins rummaging through piles of tech, finding pieces she recognises from Peebee’s room (which she’s finally bought a replacement escape pod for) to bring back for her, as well as anything shiny or fancy-looking.

A noise echoes in the distance and Suvi stops scanning. “Do you hear that?” She shushes Rachel and tells her to stop rummaging for a second. The sound of metal on metal tapping at a steady walking pace echoes down the corridor.

Rachel’s hand flies to her gun and she unholsters it, knowing what comes next. Red lights round the corner and begin scanning up and down. Rachel starts running forwards, her barriers kicking into life as a shot hits her. “Stay back, Suvi! I’ve got this!”

A small cluster of Remnant fire at them and Suvi ducks into cover, grabbing the pistol on her hip and watching as Rachel begins taking out a pair of Assemblers. An Observer makes a beeline for her and Suvi aims, shoots once twice thrice down. The other Observer spots its felled friend and goes to investigate. Suvi takes aim again, but Rachel has shot it down before it can attempt to shoot her.

They remain there, breathes heavy as the air clears, waiting to see if any more arrive. After a full minute’s silence they decide that things are all clear.

Rachel cocks her hip and quirks an eyebrow at Suvi, equally amused and impressed. “I thought you said you couldn’t shoot.”

Suvi simply shrugs, trying to remain nonchalant. “I took Cora up on her offer for shooting lessons.”

“Well, glad to see they’ve paid off.” She joins Suvi and checks her over, making sure she wasn’t hit. Suvi waves her away, insisting that she’s fine. Happy, Rachel holds her hand out for Suvi to take. “Well, since we know we should be fine should trouble find us, wanna delve a little deeper in this vault?”

Suvi beams and takes Rachel’s hand, squeezing it tight. “I’d love to.”


	5. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see glimpses of Ryder and Suvi's domestic life together on Meridian

“Here we are. Home sweet home.”

Suvi punches in the keycode and the light on the keypad changes from red to green.  _ Unlocked _ . She fumbles with the handle and nudges the door open, but it barely moves. Rachel kicks it instead and the door opens with a bang. They totter through the doorway, Rachel making sure to hold Suvi tight as she carries her over the threshold and into their new home. 

Rachel sets her down gently and the two of them stand for a moment, taking it all in. 

“It’s a bit empty.” 

Suvi chuckles. “That’s sort of what ‘unfurnished’ means.”

“I know,” Rachel begins walking around the bare room. “I just didn’t think it would be quite so literal.” 

Suvi catches up with her and they begin making their way through the house, planning what each room might look like. “Well it’s not totally bare. There’s plumbing, kitchen appliances, even some pretty decent looking cupboards. We just need to get the rest of the place kitted out.”

“Where do we even start?” Rachel stops in her tracks and thinks for a moment. Suvi shoots her an annoyed look. “Have we built an IKEA yet in Andromeda? ”

Suvi laughs. “I have no idea, but I really hope so.” 

* * *

Suvi sighs in frustration and closes the cupboard. Empty. She checks the others. She knows already that her search is pointless, but tries anyway, hoping for a miracle. Nope. She glances over and counts the plates in the sink. Eight. Every single one dirty.

She power-walks through the house, calling out to Rachel as she goes. She finds her in the conservatory, sprawled out on the sofa with an e-reader on her stomach. “I thought you were going to do the dishes.”

A look of confusion, followed by realisation and guilt crosses Rachel’s face. “Fuck, I knew I’d forgotten something. Do we not have any-”

“Nope.”

“Not even in the-”

“Nope.”

“...Shall we order in and eat out of the boxes since we don’t have any plates?”

Suvi pretends to mull it over for a moment. “Get us some pizza. And get me some cheesy chips while you’re at it. With gravy. And maybe some dipping sauce” 

Rachel sets her e-reader down and pecks Suvi on the cheek. “You want garlic-mayo or barbeque?”

“Mayo, please.” 

“I’ll be back soon, ‘kay?” 

Rachel heads to the hallway to grab her shoes and handbag, and a minute later the front door clicks shut behind her. Suvi wanders back to the kitchen and stares at the mountain of plates in the sink. She sighs. “Guess I’ll tackle this lot then, shall I? Typical.” 

* * *

 

The smoke detector shrieks and Suvi curses, running through into the kitchen where the sprinklers have just kicked into life. They rain down quickly and efficiently, putting out the fire on the stove - and leaving Suvi soaking wet and hungry, staring at a soggy, blackened pan of pasta. 

“Well, shite. There goes dinner.” She grabs the pan and dumps its contents in the bin, then throws the pan in the sink and squirts a dollop of washing up liquid inside and sets it to soak. Sighing, Suvi opens the fridge and and sees what else she can rustle up to sate her hunger. She resigns herself to sandwiches, grabs the butter and sliced meat from the fridge then heads over to the bread bin and grabs the loaf. 

A wet nose nudges her leg as she’s buttering the bread. Suvi scowls. “What do you want, mister? Don’t ya think you’ve caused enough trouble today?”

Rabbit whines, but Suvi’s resolve remains strong. “I managed to burn the pasta because of you. I didn’t even know you  _ could _ burn pasta!” She runs a hand through her hair, frowning when her hand comes out wet. “Ah shite, Rachel’s gonna laugh so hard at me for this.” 

* * *

“I’m home!”

A moment’s scuffling followed by the sound of excited pattering on hardwood flooring. Rachel smiles as she takes off her coat and shoes, waiting for the inevitable pile of fur to come bounding into her. The pattering stops briefly, replaced instead by a loud thud, and she lets out a sigh of relief when she hears the unmistakable sound of a collar being shaken and the pattering restarting. 

Rachel kneels to greet Rabbit, his tail wagging happily behind him. “Hello to you too, boy.” She quickly spots his attire - nothing new in their house, though today’s choice of outfit is a questionable one indeed. It’s an ugly thing, reminiscent of one Suvi’s many sweaters - the ones Rachel only borrows when she’s really cold. “God, why’s she got you in this ugly thing?”

Her answer follows shortly after as she wanders into the living room, Rabbit hot on her heels. Suvi’s sat on floor, a pile of jumpers of varying sizes thrown on a nearby chair with a few others strewn around her. Rabbit pads around the living room, steering well clear of the body of jumpers. Rachel doesn’t blame him. 

“So that’s where he ran off to.” Suvi grins, and Rachel stoops and kisses her. “How was everything? Did they take the news okay?” 

Rachel scoffs. “No. But it’s not like they can stop me. I’ve already spoken to my successor and she’s fine taking over earlier than planned. So yeah, it’s all sorted.” She plonks herself down on the sofa and Rabbit comes up beside her side, laying by her feet. She leans down and scratches behind his ear. “God, I can’t wait to be done with this shit.”

“You’re nearly done now, hen.” Suvi joins her on the sofa, throwing an arm around Rachel’s shoulders. Rachel leans into her and sighs. “Then you can get back to just being plain old Rachel. No fancy titles that come with a shit-ton of responsibility and higher chances of dyin’. Just you. Just Rachel.”

Rachel hums appreciatively. “I like the sound of that. I mean, I like the sound of Rachel Anwar-Ryder better, but just Rachel is good too.” 

They sit in contented quiet for a while, only moving when the cats run through the living room fighting and the dog starts trying to intervene on their behalf. Rachel and Suvi break them all up, then gather up the jumpers which have been scattered in the excitement. 

Rachel stares at one before she puts it down. “Suvi?” She hums in response. “Why the fuck were you dressing up the dog in these?”

Suvi just shrugs. “I was bored and I thought he’d looked cute in it.” 


	6. We've Got All Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ryder has a question for Suvi

The room is dark, kept only from total darkness by the clock’s display on side table and the faint glow of the stars outside - artificially created in Meridian’s night sky and whose light shines in through the open blinds. They lay on their sides, covers pulled up lazily around them and breaths mingling. Suvi traces featherlight fingers across her Rachel’s skin, up her arm, across her cheek. 

A few years ago things had felt perfect. Pathfinder Ryder had saved the day and come home to her.  _ Alive _ . The Nexus science team had been working constantly - heck, they still were - processing the massive amounts of data they’d collected, and that was just from Meridian. With the Archon gone, their shoulders had felt lighter than they had in months and it felt wonderful. 

And yet right now Suvi realises that it was simply the beginning of something even better. 

Rachel watches as Suvi’s smile grows, and she giggles. “What’s making you smile so much?” 

“I’m just really happy.” Suvi runs her thumb across Rachel’s lip, traces the shape of her mouth. Rachel chases her thumb, capturing it playfully between her lips and sucking gently on it before letting go. She grins back at her and Suvi’s heart swells at the sight. She’ll never tire of that smile, especially when it’s aimed at her. Just for her. 

As they return to their contented quiet, Suvi’s fingers continue their tracings. Across her brow bone and down her cheek. Around her lips and over her tattooed lipstick. Around each and every ringlet of her neck tattoo. 

“Can I ask you something?”

Suvi stops tracing for a moment and looks at her. “Shoot.” 

“Marry me?”

Suvi audibly gasps and she has to resist the urge to thump her. “Oh my God, Rachel. Don’t joke about that.” 

Rachel scoots closer and takes Suvi’s hand in hers, rests her forehead against hers. She kisses her briefly, heart thumping loudly in her chest. “I’m not. I love you and I want to properly be able to call you my wife, not just joke around and say that you are.” 

Suvi pretends to mull it over, but she can hear her own heart fluttering excitedly in her chest. “I dunno. What about when you get ill and start snoring like a bear because your nose is all bunged up? Or when you trapse mud all through the house? I don’t know if I can put up with that for a whole lifetime.” 

“A,” Rachel says, “that wasn’t me. That was the dog and you know it was. You helped me wash him afterwards. And B, that’s why we have the second bedroom. Because it’s not just me that snores and it’s not just when I’m ill.” 

Suvi grins. “At least I don’t do weird shite in my sleep like you do.” 

Rachel opens her mouth to argue, but quickly shuts it again, remembering the first time she’d scared Suvi with her unintentional Nosferatu impression. “Fair point.” 

She nudges Suvi gently. “So? Will you? Marry me? Please?”

She nods in reply and suddenly they’re kissing and grinning and giggling with glee, and they pull one another as close as they’re able, the need to simply be close overwhelming them both. When they finally part for breath they stay there, foreheads touching and bright beaming smiles on their faces. 

“Say, can I ask  _ you _ something?”

Rachel laughs. She draws Suvi’s hand to her lips and kisses her knuckles. “Sure.”

“Why in the world did you think that two in the morning was a good time to propose to me?”

She looks over her shoulder at the clock on the side. 2:07am. “Well shit, so it is. You think maybe we should shut the blinds and get some sleep?” 

Rachel starts to lean over to press the button for the blinds, but Suvi stops her. “In a minute, hen. I’m enjoying the moment.” 

Settling back down, Rachel joins Suvi on her back. She places a light kiss on her temple and settles against the pillows, her eyes fixed on Suvi’s contented expression. “Enjoy it for as long as you like. We’ve got all night.” 


End file.
